Of Love and Life Debts
by BekahAM
Summary: How would things turn out differently if Fred had been saved during the final battle by Hermione, who happened to be in the right place at the right time? Follow them through the adventures of a saved life, and all that comes with it.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

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Hermione ran through the castle, throwing curses as she went, trying to scan the crowd for people that she recognized. Her eyes fell on a head of bright orange hair, one of the twins as she watched a Death Eater throw a green curse directly at him. He moved just in time, but it hit the wall right next to him, blasting it apart.

Time began to move very slowly for Hermione as she saw the wall starting to crumble, about to fall on him. Without a second thought, she yelled out "Arresto Momentum!" Which caught the wall, but she couldn't hold it long.

"Fred, run!" She screamed. He seemed in shock, barely registering her voice, but he did as she said and ran, just barely missing the wall as it finally fell, crushing everything underneath it. Hermione stupified the Death Eater who had tried to kill Fred (and how she knew it was him and not George in the heat of battle remained a mystery to her), before running up to him.

Fred was just standing there, staring at the crumbled wall in front of him, gulping. He knew that he would surely be dead right now if Hermione hadn't saved him. The girl in question pulled him out of his reverie as she grabbed his arm and tugged, forcing him to follow her.

She pulled him into a dark alcove, assessing him for any other damage.

"Fred?" She asked as she noticed his silence, which was completely unusual for him. He just looked up at her with tears glistening in his eyes.

"I would've been dead." He murmured as he stared at her deep chocolate brown eyes, sounds of the battle still raging on around them. One silent tear slid down his dirt covered cheek.

"But you're not," she whispered back to him. "Come on, we need to go find the rest of your family." Hermione said as she still held his arm, guiding him back towards the great hall.

The battle seemed to have died down as people gathered outside of the hall in the courtyard. She no longer needed to pull Fred along, he was following next to her, but he kept his fingers tangled with hers almost as if needing to know that she was really there, as if she were the only tangible thing around him.

They joined the crowd in just enough time to see Hagrid carrying a lifeless Harry towards them. "No." Hermione whispered, turning to bury her head into Fred's chest as she saw him.

Still somewhat in shock, Fred finally came to, realizing that Hermione was counting on him for comfort and carefully wound his arms around her small torso, running his fingers in her hair as she cried into his chest.

He motioned for her to turn back around, but kept his arms around her.

"Harry Potter is DEAD!" Voldemort yelled, laughing maniacally. He felt Hermione flich at the words, tears streaming down her cheeks.

The next few moments went by as Voldemort spoke, but the words weren't registering. All of a sudden, Harry jumped out of Hagrid's arms and ran towards Voldemort.

Hermione watched in complete disbelief as Draco Malfoy tossed Harry his own wand, Harry grabbing it, before running to face off Voldemort again.

"He's alive." She murmured, before remembering the last obstacle. "The snake. We need to kill the snake!" She yelled, turning back around to face Fred.

"Snake? Why do we need to kill the bloody snake?" He asked quickly.

"No time for questions, just take this, " she thrust a basilisk fang into his hand, "and if we see it, we kill it."

"Right." He said, following his savior closely.

They ran around a corner, directly into none other than George Weasley.

"Freddie!" He yelled, grabbing his brother and hugging him.

"Georgie!" Fred yelled back, squeezing him tightly. "Come with us, no more splitting up, yeah?" He said, trying not to sound too demanding. George nodded as he pulled away, Hermione not missing the moment between the twins. She quickly handed him a basilisk fang as well.

"If you see a snake, kill it. No questions." She told him and he raised his eyebrows, looked at Fred, who gave him a "do what she says" look, and nodded back at her.

As the three of them ran into the great hall, they happened to see a shimmer of light shining off what looked like a large sword- the sword of Gryffindor- as Neville Longbottom sliced cleanly through the neck of the large snake, the last horcrux.

Hermione stopped dead in her tracks, the twins on her heels. From the opening of the Great Hall, they could see Harry facing off Voldemort for the very last time, Harry's spell overpowering Voldemort's. They watched as he was finally defeated, turning to ash and flying away with the wind.

Hermione, still in shock that it was over, turned at hugged the first person she saw, which happened to have been Fred. He silently hugged her back, his eyes not leaving the spot where Voldemort had just died.

It was over.

Hermione felt another presence behind her as she became crushed in between the two twins, and soon the rest of the Weasley family (who all miraculously were alive) joined in.

The moment between Fred and Hermione was not lost on either of them, but they silently agreed to deal with it later, because they both had to help the rest of the survivors.

After rounding up all remaining Death Eaters on the premises (some had fled) Hermione made her way through the Great Hall, looking for someone in particular.

She spotted the telltale white blonde hair, and made a bee-line straight for him.

Draco Malfoy was standing with his mother as Hermione approached them. Draco had watched her walk towards them and was waiting patiently for her to say something.

She opened her mouth to say something, but it seemed like none of the right words would come out, so she just held her hand out for him to shake. He looked shocked for a moment before quickly reaching out and shaking her hand.

"Thank you." She managed to say quietly.

"I finally did what was right." He replied back to her in a whisper.

"I know, and that was very brave, worthy of Gryffindor, even." She told him with a smirk before laughing.

"Not all Slytherin's are bad." He replied to her comment. She smiled up at him.

"I never said they were." She told him with a wink before walking away, back to the red-haired family who was waiting for her at the entrance of the hall.

"What was that about? Why'd you go up and shake the slimy git's hand?!" Ron yelled as she went to stand with them.

"I can do whatever I wish, Ronald, and it just so happens that Draco Malfoy may well have saved all of our lives today, seeing as he threw Harry the wand that he used to defeat Voldemort. So if you have a problem with me thanking heroes, you may take yourself away from my presence." Hermione said loud enough so that the majority of the hall could hear, including Draco, himself. Ron went red in the face and clenched his fists. The twins miraculously appeared behind Hermione to back her up if need be.

Ron then stormed off and Hermione hugged Harry tightly, happy that he was alive. Then she slapped him upside the head.

"Harry James Potter, don't you ever, and I mean EVER, die on us again. You just walked right down into the forest to your death. You better be glad that you are alive again, because if you had stayed dead, I would have found a way to bring you back just to kill you myself! You are my best friend, my brother, and-"

"- love, why don't you give the lad a break, he did die, you know," Fred mentioned.

"and he defeated 'ole Voldy. Can't forget that." George piped in.

She looked at the twins, glaring before looking back at Harry and sighing. "I guess they're right, but that doesn't mean you are off the hook, got it?" She pointed at Harry as if she were his mother.

He gulped before nodding his head. "Got it."

"Right, well then, let's all get back to the burrow so that we can get cleaned up and fed, yes?" Molly said, clapping her hands and smiling at her family, so thankful that this day hadn't claimed any of them. None of them knew how close Fred had been to death. "Pair up and apparate since the wards are down. Arthur and I will take Ginny with us, Bill and Fleur, Charlie and Percy, Harry and Ron, and Hermione can go with Fred and George."

"Mum, we are going to stop by the flat to get some clothes before we head home." George told Molly after sharing a look with his brother.

"Well then, Hermione dear, you can go with-"

"No, Mrs. Weasley, its alright, I'll go with them." Hermione told her, reassuring her it was okay. Molly nodded her head, sensing that something had changed between one of the twins and Hermione.

The each popped away pair by pair, Hermione and the twins were the last ones to go. She held out both of her hands and they each grabbed one.

"You ready, Granger?" George asked, laughing.

She nodded mutely before feeling the tug at her navel, being ripped through space and put back together as they all landed.

She shook her head to clear the dizziness and then took a moment to look around. She'd never been to the twin's flat.

It was nice, very homey feeling. A large brown couch in front of the fireplace, random pieces of their merchandise laying around. The kitchen looked mostly unused, and then there was a hallway that led down to two rooms. She couldn't see beyond that point from where they were standing, but it felt nice, safe.

George went ahead and walked off to his room, conjuring up a bag as he went, but Fred just stood there and watched Hermione.

"You saved my life." He muttered to her, turning to sit on the couch, running his fingers through his hair. He sat with his head in his hands as he thought about what almost happened. "I would've been dead."

Hermione sat down next to him and gathered his hands in hers, her thumbs rubbing soothing circles on the backs of his hands. She saw tears rolling down his face, leaving tracks in the dirt. "Fred, look at me." And he looked up at her, his savior. "You are alive, and that is what matters. You can't think about the what if's, if you do, you'll go barmy. Yes, near death experiences change you, make you open your eyes. I've had a few as well. Makes you realize that life is too short to wait around for things to happen."

Fred looked up at her and nodded. "There's a life debt, I can feel it." Hermione's eyes widened, she knew about life debts but never expected one to be attached to her.

"You don't have to repay me for saving your life, Fred." She told him expressedly.

"You know that's not how it works, love. It's there whether you want it or not. Even if it wasn't, I'd spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you. You are the most brilliant witch I've ever met."

George stood at the entrance to the hallway, listening with tears in his eyes. Neither of them saw him until he came over and pulled his brother up to hug him tightly.

"I- I almost lost you, Freddie?" He asked as he hugged his twin. Fred couldn't reply, so he just nodded numbly.

After a few moments, they broke apart and George just looked at his brother. "What happened?"

Fred took a deep breath before recalling the events. "I was dueling with a Death Eater and he shot a curse at me, I ducked and it flew past me and hit the wall beside me. The wall blew apart and was falling, would've crushed me completely if not for my savior right here. She used a spell to hold at least 2 tons of stone long enough for me to get out of the way, then got the Death Eater who almost killed me."

George looked over to Hermione, then walked over and pulled her up into a hug as well. "Thank you." He told her before pulling away and looking at her. "Better get used to us Granger."

"Go now, get your clothes so that we can get back to the Burrow before everyone starts worrying." Hermione told them.

They did as she asked and came back to find Hermione tidying up in their kitchen, just a habit.

"Making yourself at home, Granger?" George asked with a laugh which made Hermione jump.

"I was just-"

"It's alright, Hermione, George is just trying to yank your wand." Fred whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine.

They each grabbed one of her hands and looked at each other, "Ready Freddie?"

"Ready Georgie!"

"Ready 'Mione?"

"Ready Freddie!" She said, laughing as they disapparated.

The three of them were still laughing when they landed outside the Burrow.

"Did you hear that-"

"She went along with-"

"She'll fit in perfectly!"

Fred and George bantered back and forth together.

"Boys, I'm still here?" She said laughing as she watched them.

"Right. Moving on, shall we?" Fred said, holding out his hooked arm for her to hold on to, George doing the same on her other side. She hooked her arms in theirs and they walked to the Burrow, laughing.

"There you are, boys! I was beginning to worry!" Molly said as they walked into the kitchen.

"We were only a few minutes, mum!" George told her and she put her hands on her hips.

"A few minutes or not, George Fabian Weasley, we were all just in a battle and I just want my children safe under my roof." Molly told him and he swallowed nervously, nodding.

"That wouldn't have been possible without Hermione here, mum." Fred told her, being more serious than their mother had ever seen.

"What- what do you mean, dear?" Molly asked him, putting her hands on his cheeks, seeing the tears in his eyes.

"She saved my life. I won't go into details, but it was more than enough to warrant a life debt. I owe her everything, mum." Fred whispered the last part, not failing to see the tears streaming down Molly Weasley's face as she hugged her son tightly, afraid to let go. After she let go of Fred, she moved over to Hermione and squeezed her tightly.

"I'm afraid I can never do enough to repay you for saving my son's life." Molly told Hermione as she hugged her tightly.

"You don't have to repay me, Mrs. Weasley." Hermione told the elder witch who was now crying as she looked at both of her twin sons.

"It's just Molly, dear, or even Mum if you'd like. Now, let's get you all cleaned up and dinner should be ready by the time you're done." Molly told them.

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 **So, I have decided that since Jo killed off one of my favorite characters (actually a few... Fred, Remus, Sirius...) that I would keep him alive with my lovely fanfiction writing obsession. Enjoy, and remember to REVIEW, my loves.**


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